


Be Careful What You Wish For

by bornforwar_archivist



Category: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: BDSM, F/M, Sexual Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-31
Updated: 2006-12-31
Packaged: 2018-11-05 04:48:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11006322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bornforwar_archivist/pseuds/bornforwar_archivist
Summary: By Arianwen P.F. EverettAres finds himself in Xena: The Conqueror's universe, a world where force of arms keeps the peace and one warrior queen rules, everything he's always wanted. Unfortunately for him, the old adage 'Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.' applies to gods too.





	Be Careful What You Wish For

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Delenn, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Born For War](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Born_For_War), which closed in 2015. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in March 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Born For War collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bornforwar).
> 
> RATING: NC-17 
> 
> SUMMARY: Ares finds himself in Xena: The Conqueror's universe, a world where force of arms keeps the peace and one warrior queen rules, everything he's always wanted. Unfortunately for him, the old adage 'Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.' applies to gods too. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys are owned by Renaissance Pictures and Universal Studios. I'm just a poor fan with a sick mind. 
> 
> This story is rated NC-17 for BDSM and sexual violence. It's pretty racy, even for fan fiction. Be warned!!! 
> 
> Authoress' Note: This story takes place after 'Chakram' but before ‘Animal Attraction’, and also contains spoilers for 'Armageddon Now I & II', 'Ten Little Warlords', ‘Adventures in the Sin Trade I & 2’, ‘Between the Lines’, and ‘Reunions’.

Ares struggled to his feet, wiping the tiny trickle of blood from the left side of his mouth. He looked down at his hip and noticed his sword was missing. Damn Zeus and his unoriginal punishments! He was human again, and possibly in an alternate timeline as well. How was he ever going to get out of this one?   
  
Xena. That's how he'd gotten out of so many scrapes recently. Her unerring goodness wouldn't let her turn her back on him, and even if she could, as a human he was still a formidable warrior. A few dozen hostages to save, and she'd definitely do as he needed.   
  
Ares looked around him, and groaned at his luck. This was Corinth. He hated Corinth. Birthplace of his annoying bastard brother, Hercules. Had Hercules never been born, life would be perfect. So much more war. Strife would be alive. And best of all, Xena would be his Warrior Queen, killing all their enemies in her wake. Ah, life would be sweet!   
  
A blonde warrior woman walked by, and Ares grinned. At least he knew someone here. This was the woman who helped Xena and Gabrielle defeat Agathon. Xena had called her Glyphira.   
  
Ares grabbed her by the bicep. "I'm looking for Xena, the Warrior Princess," Ares stated plainly. Surely this warrior woman would know something that would help him find his chosen.   
  
"You mean Xena, the Conqueror?" the woman replied, looking Ares over appreciatively. He had that effect on women. He often used it to his advantage, although he'd rarely encountered a woman brazen enough to ogle him so unabashedly. Well, one could never tell with alternate universes, and he now knew for certain that he was in an alternate universe. Xena, the Conqueror. He liked it.   
  
"Brave man. Foolish man. However, the Conqueror has eccentric tastes. She will pay well for one such as you. Take him!" the Warrior Woman shouted. Seven warriors suddenly jumped Ares. This was not unusual. He looked like he was an unarmed warrior, ripe for the killing. What was unusual was the skill of all these men. They were obviously trained by his favorite, and without his Godhood, he was quickly subdued and brought unconscious.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
When Ares awoke, he found himself in a dungeon of sorts. He also discovered that he'd been bathed. His leathers had been polished, and his boots had been shined. He felt like a prize goose being dressed for a feast. Perhaps that was exactly what he was.   
  
Ares waited, impatiently pacing the room. The only light came through a small window. The bars were firmly in place, and even if they'd been loose, it was way too small for him to squeeze through. The door was firm and bolted well shut. It became painfully obvious that until or unless someone came to retrieve him, he was stuck right where he was.   
  
About an hour after his waking, he was slightly startled when the sound of three sets of footfalls made their way towards his prison door. He heard the keys jingling and the lock being unlocked. His mind was still sharp, and Ares pulled himself up behind the door.   
  
The wooden door opened slightly. A few seconds had passed with nothing, when all of a sudden, the large door swung fully inward, knocking Ares to the ground, although leaving him conscious this time.   
  
"Ah, someone likes to play games! Well that will indeed please the Conqueror, because she likes to play games too! Of course, I doubt you'll enjoy her kind of games! Ah, a man of few word. You really are a prize aren't you? Come on Pretty Boy! Let's go meet your new Mistress!" Glyphira stated menacingly as she stood confidently before him. She motioned for her two goons to pick him up, and Ares went with no protest. They thought they had him, but ultimately they were taking him just where he wanted to be.   
  
Ares was lead down several darkened corridors, then into a grand hallway. Before him lay two huge doors made of pure gold almost as big as those of Zeus's palace on Olympus. They even had many of the same engravings on them too. Ares was entranced, studying the detail, when suddenly the doors parted, and as Ares looked up, he almost fainted. For there before him was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. He allowed himself to be lead forward towards the seven large steps that led to the golden throne, but it was the woman who sat before him that ruled his heart, as she seemed to do everything in this universe, Xena. His Conqueror.   
  
"Glyphira, where did you find this one?" Xena inquired intensely, her astonishment reaching her voice.   
  
"Here in Corinth. He approached me, actually. Asked me where he might find 'the Warrior Princess'. Guess you could call it a win/win situation," Glyphira commented wryly. Men really were too easy.   
  
Xena quickly descended her throne, grabbing Ares by the back of his head, and twisting it painfully as to view every angle. She inspected his hands next, then his arms, back, and buttocks.   
  
Returning to face him, she looked him straight in the eyes, and her breath caught slightly, as the truth settled into her brain.   
  
"Leave us! All! Now!" Xena demanded, her steel blue eyes never leaving his contented forest green ones.   
  
"What about payment?" Glyphira, always first the businesswoman, asked.   
  
"You will receive twice your usual fee! Now GET OUT!" Xena commanded, taking a step towards Glyphira, who backed away quickly, raising her hands in surrender.   
  
"Fine. Good day, Xena," the blonde woman said perfunctorily, exiting the throne room as fast as her legs would carry her.   
  
Once the large doors had shut, Xena returned to stand before Ares, just staring at him as if he were a great work of art.   
  
"I know you can't be Ares! Ares is dead, so who are you?!" Xena asked, grabbing a handful of black hair, and forcing him to his knees.   
  
Ares felt his scalp ache, as the hair on his head was pulled harder and harder. "I am Ares, just not the Ares you know!" he yelped, as Xena roughly tossed him backwards.   
  
"Alright, we do it the hard way!" Xena growled, her fingers shooting out, catching Ares in her infamous 'pinch'. "You've got th..."   
  
"I know, I know, thirty seconds to live! Look, Xena, I am Ares! I gave you your Chakram! I know that you made your first kill when you were 16 and Cortese's Army attacked your village! Your brother, Lyceus, was killed in that battle, and before it was over, you had slain nine men!" Ares divulged, praying to the Fates that she believed him.   
  
Xena took the pinch off Ares, and he slumped at her feet, dragging in deep breaths.   
  
"Alright! Enough! You obviously know things about me that no one but Ares could know. So how did you come back from the dead? From what I hear, hind's blood is a one way trip to oblivion?" Xena asked, her eyes boring into Ares' soul.   
  
"It is difficult to explain," Ares warned.   
  
"Try very hard!" Xena growled, making the implicit threat for noncompliance clear.   
  
"Alright. You must think of life as a road with many forks in it. Each time you make a choice, there are other choices that you discard, other roads that you do not travel. However, despite the fact you do not travel them, those roads still exist. To mortals they are usually irrelevant. The kindly Fates make sure of that. But Gods are sometimes able to experience these other roads. And sometimes we get trapped on a road we never took. That is how I got here. On the road I traveled, you are not this Great Conqueror, though for all the world I'd prefer you were," Ares explained, trying to simplify an idea he barely understood himself. He hated parallel universes.   
  
And he hated the fact that once the other gods realized he was gone, and the mortals started going insane with violence, Zeus would drag him back to Olympus. For as crazy as it was, even though it meant living only a few scant decades rather than eternally, this was the reality he would choose for himself. Now he didn't want to go.   
  
Xena seemed to digest this information and his forlorn expression. Ares was a manipulator, a deceiver of the first caliber, but truth be told, he was one of the few people that had ever made her feel anything. That Bastard, Caesar, had once said her ability to feel was her fatal flaw, but he'd been wrong. As painful as her 'flaw' often was, her feelings, her intuition had given her an edge over many an adversary.   
  
Xena paused a few moments, stealing herself against the unfamiliar compassion that was flooding her, before speaking again. "Am I dead on the road you come from, as you are on mine?" Xena asked, wanting to know what horrible fate this Ares perceived to be hers.   
  
"No, much worse. You protect the weak and the worthless! You and your annoying little Bard friend travel from village to village with barely a dinar between the two of you, defending the masses of chattel, instead of taking all that should be yours, all that you deserve! In my world, you are a hero!" Ares spat out the final word, as if it were the vilest curse in his vocabulary, and Xena knew he knew many others.   
  
"A hero? So the little blonde mercenary who stole the gemstone off my scepter was right," Xena chuckled then broke into a full-blown laughing fit.  
  
Ares was in pure bliss, as he watched her shake with laughter, and he began to laugh heartily as well. He had never been this happy before.   
  
Suddenly he was tackled with lightning quick speed, and deliciously soft lips sucked and nipped as his neck and chest. He could sense the predator in his Chosen One, perhaps some residual empathic bond, despite his crossing realities and loosing his sword.   
  
A painful shock, as she pinched his nipples, letting her nails dig into his mortal flesh, brought him out of his revelry. The following surge of pleasure upon her release of his oh so mortal flesh, forced his hips to automatically thrust upward towards his Conqueror's, instinctively seeking the warmth and wetness he knew lay beyond the ornate silk.   
  
So this was animal instinct? He'd never known this before, to be out of control, at the demands of his body. Oh, he definitely knew sex and especially passion. All his powers, beyond his physical self, were derived from passion. He'd never feared passion before. It was his greatest ally, but before he'd always been its master. Now he existed on the other side of the relationship.   
  
This woman was doing exactly what he'd always wanted her to do, was EVERYTHING he'd ever wanted her to be, and now she was beyond his control and capable of controlling him. He was in love.   
  
The desire Xena was inflicting upon him mingled with the pure love in his heart, and he had to give her his best. It was time to stop sitting on the sidelines and join the game already in progress.   
  
With a growl of male virility, he flipped Xena onto her back, surprising her. He pinned her hands above her head with one strong arm, and mounted her, undoing his fly and freeing his manhood. He stroked its hard lengths, staring Xena straight in the eye, letting her absorb her own helplessness. Tearing the silken barriers aside, he swiftly buried his engorged cock deep inside the woman beneath him, hearing her shout in shock, pain, and pleasure, all at once. He knew the maddening sensations that threatened to remove him from control could give her the few precious seconds it would take for her to regain the upper hand in this romp, but her own responses kept her occupied, and he soon regained his inner equilibrium.   
  
Xena writhed underneath her lover, taking every forceful thrust, trying to match them with her own grinding, but without much success.   
  
Ares was able to use his superior weight and leverage better and kept her from making all but the slightest of movements, giving her a lustful snarl and crushing her pinioned wrists against the cold marble floor and each other. He was demanding control, and where her mind told her not to accept domination, especially from him, her heart would not give her the consensus of will she needed to fight back. She felt small and powerless beneath this awesome, grunting man, and her soul gloried in it.   
  
When Ares fucked her this way, she felt so outstandingly erotic and womanly. She was conquered, body and soul, and Ares was the only man or god worthy of possessing her. She knew she loved him, but it was only in these hedonistic moments that she could do so without mistrust or second-guessing.   
  
As Ares rode Xena harder, he felt his control slipping away. His balls started to tighten almost painfully, and he knew he was close. He was going to come, filling his beloved with a warm pool of his seed, but he didn't want this to be just an ordinary screwing for either of them. He yearned to watch her loose all control, screaming and bucking beneath him, her own forceful climax tearing away every last bit of control. Call it a throwback to their battle of wills, but he couldn't surrender himself without knowing that she was surrendering as well. He knew how much she liked rough trade, and he decided to give it to her.   
  
"Take it! Take it all!" Ares growled, using his free hand to flick Xena's clitoris, then suddenly, and without warning, he drove his cock deep into her ass like he knew she enjoyed it most.   
  
Xena howled as the painful delight of being anally penetrated, pushed her over the edge, and she bayed in response, as her cunt spasmed with one of the most intense orgasms she had ever experienced, while the god she adored responded in kind, smiling his most devilish smile, as he allowed himself to cum inside her nether hole, the shear perversity of it all driving them both along the waves of oblivion.   
  
After such a wild roll in the sack, Ares easily slipped out of his princess, releasing her hands and roughly pulled her limp, sweating form against him. He was exhausted, and quite satisfied, when Xena wrapped her arms around his chest, and nuzzled him affectionately, virtually purring with the same contentment. They lay like this in silence, gently stroking each other. Two unbeatable warriors satiated and calm.   
  
Ares smiled down at his Conqueror. She had taken all of him, just as he had told her to. His cock. His cum. His life. Now he had to wonder what she planed to do with him now that she had him.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
At around mid-morning, Ares awoke from a peaceful slumber. The pure silk sheets and warm furs of the Conqueror's bed were so much like his own back on Olympus. He wondered if he'd ever see that bed again, and for the first time since he and Xena had started their marathon of lovin', yesterday afternoon, he felt uncertain. He definitely wanted to stay with this Xena, but not as a mortal. He wanted to be a god again, which meant he'd have to find his dead counterpart's sword and claim the power of this Olympus. Then he'd make Xena his wife, queen, and goddess.   
  
Odd, he'd never thought of marriage as an option for himself. His father had engrained in him, when he was still at that age when a father's words and deeds meant everything, that women, goddesses and mortals alike, were great, fabulous, spectacular creatures, but mixing with them, beyond flirtation and the sexual act, could only lead to unhappiness and grave disappointment. They, like the swine or the dog, had to be ruled over, governed by men and gods. For if they were not, their chaotic underbelly, which they kept hidden from both men and themselves, would destroy everyone and everything.   
  
But Xena was nothing if not ordered and disciplined, both the Xena of his own universe and that of this one, respectively. He had never wondered, like most male warlords did, why he often chose to favor female warriors over their male counterparts. Male warlords were generally stronger, more vicious, and more bloodthirsty, and Ares liked those qualities well enough, but female warriors had a kind of long-term, hen pecking approach, to leading an army. It was rare that a woman ever had enough warrior spirit to follow his path, to massacre and pillage and move on, but when it happened it was a glorious site indeed. And Xena was the very best at it. She would make an ideal wife, although he'd never fully turn his back on her. Not Xena. He didn't want to take the chance his father had been right. And the Xena from his native universe had betrayed him before.   
  
The parting of the pure silver doors to Xena’s bedchamber interrupted his thoughts. He had asked her why she had chosen silver and she had said that a shamaness had once told her that silver could be used as a barrier against malicious spirits. It wasn't foolproof, but only the wisest and most determined of dead enemies could pass through, not just any spirit seeking vengeance. Xena, especially this Xena standing at the foot of her bed, had many deceased enemies.   
  
"You're awake," the Conqueror commented, as she climbed, fully dressed, into bed with Ares, planting a long, sensuous kiss on his hot mouth and sighing with pleasure.   
  
"Yes, although I'm surprised I survived last night. You've obviously learned a lot since the last time we... I mean, since the last time the other Xena... Oh to Tartarus with it! Sufficive to say, I had a monumental time last night, my Conqueror," Ares commented, kissing the back of Xena's hand, then turning it over to kiss her palm and wrist.   
  
The Conqueror's brows creased in thought. "The other one, the hero, she gave you up as a lover, when she turned, didn't she?" Xena asked, curious that her counterpart would ever willingly give up such a beneficial ally and fabulous lover as the God of War.   
  
"My half brother, Hercules, brainwashed her into believing that I held no value to anyone good," Ares grudgingly informed her.   
  
"Hercules, I never heard of him. What was he god of?" the Conqueror asked, trying to remember the Ares she'd known mentioning anyone by that name.   
  
Ares laughed deeply. "Nothing, my Dear! He was simply the product of one of Zeus' dalliances with a mortal woman. However, in this world, he was never born and that fact is the fork in the road, as it were. It was his meddling in your destiny that turned you from me. Your glorious reign as ruler of the entire known world here is proof enough of that. As much as I hated him before, I NEVER even GUESSED at all that he has cost me!" Ares explained, anger building in him, as he gazed intently into Xena's lovely eyes.   
  
"Well, you needn't worry about him any more! He doesn't even exist here, after all!" the Conqueror stated firmly, hungrily kissing her god, wanting to banish all the heartache this Hercules had caused him.   
  
This compassion and burgeoning love were driving her crazy, and while she feared her absorption in the man beneath her tender caresses, she knew she couldn't fight it. So she flung herself headlong into his deepening kisses, this time taking things slow, as close to making love as either of them had ever gotten in their lives.   
  
As they both came, holding fiercely on to each other's body, Xena swore to herself that she'd find a way to make this work out, even if it meant surrendering a part of her autonomy in the process. If he betrayed her, she'd kill him, but she could no longer deceive herself into believing that she could control how much she loved and needed him. She had lost him once, and had believed herself condemned to bitter loneliness for the rest of her days. She was NOT going to loose him again!   
  
They lay entangled together for nearly an hour, neither speaking, when Ares broke the silence, his previous thoughts again weighting heavily on him. "As happy as I am with you, like this, neither of us would stay happy with only mortality ahead of us. There is still much more to the universe to conquer, you know? Olympus for starters. With you at my side, Old Zeus won't know what hit him!" Ares chuckled, contentedly.   
  
Xena nuzzled his bare chest and sighed. "Old Zeus won't know anything. He's dead. All the gods are dead; those from other lands as well as your family," Xena said, running a hand through Ares bangs as her words sank in.   
  
"How?" Ares asked, a flurry of emotion, lead by shock, written in his features.   
  
"I had the same thought you just did. That the known world wasn't enough, that I should conquer the heavens as well. So I had a trained dog retrieve the Chakram of Light, because an animal's soul is always pure, and I started in the Norse Lands, working my way south, eliminating Gods as I went. I offered most of your family a choice, to betray your father and follow me. You, Strife, Apollo, and your mother joined me, and we defeated your father and the rest, but not before your father escaped. He found the last of the golden hind, and claimed her blood, then snuck into this fortress and killed Hera, Apollo, and Strife in their sleep. He set his sites on you next, disguising himself as a guard, but he never counted on me knowing all my guards personally. I weeded him out and had him trapped. I decided to let you make the kill, since it was you he had tried to murder, and stood back. He had an extra dagger hidden in his vest. Neither of us knew it, but before you could strike, he had buried it in your chest! I swear, I went crazy and hacked him to pieces with his own sword, but it was too late! You were already dead!" Xena sobbed, burying her head against Ares shoulder, as the painful memory assailed her.   
  
Ares pulled Xena close, holding her against him. He felt numb, but he knew he couldn't be angry with her. She was more family to him than his own had ever been and he loved her. The knowledge that she had needed to avenge his death filled him with euphoria, and he hugged her even tighter, running his fingers through her hair, to comfort her. He let her continue to cry until she had worn herself down to weeping softly against his bare shoulder. Then he placed his large hands at the sides of her head, bringing her eyes to meet his.   
  
"You are a warrior, a conqueror! Never loose sight of that, My Dearest, and NEVER regret what you do for that power!" Ares counseled, the force of his conviction stirring Xena almost at the cellular level. He kissed her salty cheeks, trailing back to her now smiling lips. The look in her eyes almost made him weep, and he would have been happy to never leave this bed again.   
  
"Ares!" a commanding voice boomed through the vast bedroom, and both Ares and Xena jumped, turning to look behind them.   
  
"I thought I'd killed you, skewered you on a blade of Hind's blood! You must really be a glutton for punishment!" Xena purred, then quickly flipped off her bed, grabbing an item from underneath it. She raised her hand, which held the Chakram of Light, and smiled at the weary expression on the King of the God's face.   
  
"I came to talk to my son," Zeus stated firmly, looking past Xena's shoulder to where Ares sat up in her bed, smirking devilishly.   
  
Xena was uncertain, her mind running through the myriad of potential situations and consequences of his request. She didn't know this Zeus, but he was obviously more centered and self-controlled than his deceased counterpart. Finally she decided.   
  
"So talk," Xena said, making it clear she had no intention of leaving the two men alone or allowing Zeus near the bed where Ares sat. She watched the King of the Gods intently, waiting for a sign he meant to attack.   
  
"Xena, it's okay. My father and I may not be on the best of terms, but we're not at the point of murdering each other just yet. It will be alright," Ares offered, placing a hand on Xena's shoulder.   
  
"This could be a trick, a trap to catch you vulnerable!" Xena insisted, turning her head barely a fraction of an inch, never taking her eyes of Zeus.   
  
"Xena, Please. Zeus and the other Olympians of my world need me far too much to do anything stupid. Besides, if he tries anything, I'll be ready this time, and I ALWAYS have you to protect me," Ares jested, coming to stand by her side and kissing her brow.   
  
"I give you my word. I am not here to harm my son," Zeus stated, impatiently.   
  
With that, Xena sighed and nodded, fastening her golden robes around the knee-length, black silk shift she'd been wearing, then silently left father and son to talk.   
  
"Charming woman," Zeus commented dryly, once Xena had left.   
  
"She is a true goddess if I've ever met one!" Ares responded defensively.   
  
"She is a mortal harlot, nothing more, and you do your sisters and cousins very wrong in comparing that thing to them," Zeus rebuked, anerved that his son would even say such a thing.   
  
"You didn't come here to discuss Xena, whatever she may be. No, you're here because your 'punishment' isn't going as you'd like. I'm not being victimized or violated enough in your glorious opinion!" Ares growled at his father.   
  
"You've always been a smart boy, Ares. Now, if you're through playing male-concubine for that bloodthirsty whore, you are welcome to return to our own dimension. Your powers and your sword will be waiting for you. Call my name when you're ready," Zeus stated, turning from his son.   
  
"I regret to inform you that I will not be returning to that Tartarus you call a home! I have found the life I want to lead, where I want to be, and with whom I need to be with!" Ares stated, approaching his retreating father.   
  
Zeus turned around, a deep laugh bubbling out. "Found your place? As a mortal?"   
  
Ares stood his ground. "Yes, although I don't plan on staying a mortal very long," he stated, keeping his eyes on Zeus'.   
  
"And what about your duty to the mortals of OUR world? What about your duty to your family?!" Zeus raged, standing toe to toe with his wayward son.   
  
"I'll make a new world, a new family, with Xena, and I will never forget MY duty to MY family!" Ares rebutted, anger filling his heart. How dare his father talk of family duty! He was never there for any of his children and he betrayed his wife at the drop of a mortal woman's dress!   
  
"You plan to make her immortal, to take her as wife? You must either be insane or a first class fool! YOU trained her, molded her into what she is! Can't you see what she's doing?! She's using you! She can't LOVE, especially you! She sees a way to gain even more power, and you're just her means to that end! She's beating you at your own game, Ares, and as far apart as we've grown, even I won't relish watching you be brought low by that... woman!" Zeus spat in shock. Ares in love? This was crazy and he had to be.   
  
"Don't you think I've thought of that, Father? Give me some credit here! As you said, it's my game! I invented it! Xena is using me, of that I have no doubts! I can accept that, and I will never turn my back on her, but I also know that she is capable of GREAT love, and this time around, I plan to be the object of ALL her affections! She is my chosen, my piece of the mortal realm, and she will devour the other planes of existence as she has devoured this one! And we will be one conquering will!" Ares shouted, elated with the possibilities ahead of him.   
  
Zeus laughed heartily. In truth, he couldn't think of a better punishment, as the one the Fates seemed to have set for his son. It was cruel, but judging from Ares own words, it was just what he needed. Love never lasted forever, and its sting was far more painful than that of a sword puncturing tender mortal flesh. For a god, it was doubly agonizing, and Ares was plowing headlong into its snare. Perhaps had he allowed him to fall in love as a godling, as most young bucks did, he might have already learned that lesson with far less trouble. But Zeus had learned millennia ago that regrets rarely got you anywhere, and whatever the season, Ares would finally learn what he needed to.   
  
"Alright, if you insist on pursuing this further, I can be generous. I'm giving you a year of freedom, although I doubt you will need all of it. You truly are a smart boy, Ares. Athena and Discord can continue to handle your responsibilities at home until then. When you have quenched your appetite for this temptress, call my name!" Zeus ordered, then nodded a goodbye to his son and vanished.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
Ares felt exhausted after 19 days on the road with barely any rest and being at the Conqueror’s beck and call. The woman was insatiable, and as a god, accommodating her had been simple. Now, with a mortal body, Ares could only hope Zeus was having a jolly good time laughing at his discomfort. Still, he would die before showing weakness to Xena and he knew it was only another day before they reached the mountains. Then they would retrieve his sword and he could keep HER up all night.   
  
As the noonday sun shone down directly above them, the caravan was stopped by a young Amazon woman standing in the middle of the trail. While her dress and demeanor appeared normal enough, one look in her eyes could tell you that something was not right. There seemed to be no spark of life or consciousness to her. When she spoke, Ares got a shiver down his spine.   
  
“Welcome back Xena,” a disturbing, raspy voice issued from the young woman. Ares recognized what was at play. He’d seen his mother pull this trick hundreds of times before, but Hera was supposed to be dead on this dimensional plane. Someone other than a god must be using the body of this recently dead Amazon to deliver a message, the same someone who’s voice issued from her lips, but Ares had rarely seen anyone but a god pull off that trick and never very well. Whoever this shamaness was that Xena had given his counterpart’s sword to, she must be one in a million.   
  
“Alti? Are you in there? You’ve obviously changed my friend,” Xena commented, slightly confused but willing to play along. Alti had it good under her reign. She was the most feared shamaness in the known world. She was an ally, although Xena didn’t exactly trust her. Xena the Conqueror didn’t exactly trust anybody. She had learned the hard way.   
  
Alti. Ares had to take a deep breath at the mention of that name. He had done his homework when it came to Xena’s adventures outside of Greece, both before and after she’d turned from him. He had been to the Fates many times and watched her life play out in all the many exotic locals she had traveled. Alti was a major figure in Xena’s personal evolution. The witch was pure evil, and while she had opened Xena’s eyes to the mystical world, she also wanted to steal Xena’s soul, in this lifetime and forever after. Ares would NOT let that happen! But being mortal here and now he had to tread lightly.   
  
Ares tapped Xena on the shoulder and pointed to the Amazon woman “Zombie.” he mouthed to his lover.   
  
“What’s a Zombie?” Xena asked, having never heard the word before.   
  
“Very good, War God,” the Amazon replied with it’s disembodied voice.   
  
“It’s a parlor trick to the gods. You kill a mortal then insert your spirit into the fresh corpse. It’s kinda like controlling a mannequin. However I have never seen anyone but a god do it so well,” Ares complemented. A little flattery couldn’t hurt, particularly when he was addressing a woman.   
  
“So Alti hasn’t actually left her body then?” Xena asked. She had assumed Alti had just switched bodies with someone.   
  
“No My Love, although your friend is probably less than a mile from here, as it’s very difficult to control a zombie from long distances. Hera could do it, but then again, Hera spent centuries practicing. She always got a kick out of zombification! Good old Mom!” Ares laughed, reminiscing about the few bright spots in his childhood when his mother would kill entire tribes and put on plays for him with the bodies. He briefly wondered if he would ever see his mother again now that she resided in the abyss of Tartarus. He did miss her.   
  
“Right again,” the voice said, only this time it came from directly behind them. Swinging around, Ares was finally confronted with the shamaness they had traveled so far to seek.   
  
“Alti! It’s good to see you!” Xena greeted, hopping off her pack mule and embracing the woman who approached her.   
  
“I know why you are here, Xena. I know you want the sword back to allow Ares to regain its godhood. We are 3 days travel from where I have hidden it. I will lead you,” Alti stated, barely acknowledging the mortal God of War, but looking Xena straight in the eye.   
  
“Alright. Let’s move on out!” the Conqueror commanded, returning to her mule and informing her soldiers and her lover. Ares sighed. 3 more days travel. 3 more days of mortality. And now he had to watch out for the witch as well. Ares cursed under his breath and swore that once he was a god again, he would never become mortal for any reason. Mortality was such a pain in the ass!   
  
That night, Xena and Ares lay together in their bedroll, staring up at the stars, in a clearing a small distance away from the rest of their party. They had decided against using the tent. There seemed to be few insects and the sky was perfectly clear, offering up a spectacular view. Xena had always enjoyed looking up at the stars. Only recently she chose to share that experience with her little bard friend instead of him. Ares shook his head. That was the other Xena. This Xena loved him.   
  
He looked over at his Love and sighed. No, she didn’t love him, not with the same intensity that she selflessly loved Gabrielle in the other universe. Before he could morbidly dwell on the matter, he quickly reminded himself that he had been here less than a month and that that Xena and Gabrielle had spent nearly every moment of every day together for 5 years. He couldn’t expect to achieve that level of intimacy so soon. Besides, thanks to his deceased counterpart, he already had a head start.   
  
Without hesitation, Ares reached out and stroked Xena’s cheek. He was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He kissed her deeply and pulled her forcefully to him, devouring her mouth with his, while easing himself on top of his Love. She seemed surprised at the intensity of his desire, but the way he was caressing her told her he was feeling intense need of her right now and she couldn’t help but respond. She rarely just gave herself to a man, even before she became ruler of the entire known world, but if Ares needed this release, she would do anything he wanted tonight.   
  
That night, as Ares and Xena were falling asleep after making love, Ares sensed a watchful presence. He waited near a half hour for it to make a move, but after that time, it merely walked away. It took Ares nearly two more hours to fall asleep after that.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
The next morning, at sun up, they were on the move again. Ares hadn’t even bothered complaining, just went with the flow. 2 more days and he’d be a god again, a god with a goddess by his side and an eternity to savor her supple body in various and debauched ways. Ares eyes drifted to her swaying bottom as she rode her pack mule directly in front of him and he imagined spanking her and nipping her sweet, reddened, ass cheeks, not to mention fucking her from behind and making her howl like all the collective of souls in Tartarus. Gods she made him horny! And yet it was like nothing he’d ever felt before. He’d definitely been amorous with many, many women over the ions, but after sleeping with them a hand full of times, he always grew bored and restless. This time things were different. But with Xena, things were always different. It was probably the reason she turned him on in the first place, that and her superior ass.   
  
“I’d keep your eyes on the road, Ares. You’re mortal now and a fall down this mountain side could kill you,” Xena stated plainly with only a tiny hint of amusement in her voice. She hadn’t even turned around but had felt his eyes rake over her. It was a common enough phenomenon; she was a beautiful woman, but with Ares it stirred something inside her and she had to say something.   
  
Ares smirked and did as he was told. The woman commanded him in all things, at least until he had his godhood back. Even then, she would always have an equal hand in their relationship. He adored her; always had, always would. Her soul might be tied to the irritating blondes’, but it was also tied to his own. Mortals had some weird notion that ones soul could only have 2 halves. A soul could have dozens of permanent connections to it. Xena’s soul was also tied to Joxer’s, Alti’s, Caesar’s, Hercules’ and Callisto’s. Lifetime after lifetime they would all find her and be in her life. It was both a comforting and disturbing thought.   
  
He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the scenery. According to the mortals, it was breathtakingly beautiful. Ares didn’t see it, but Xena had said something to that effect when one of her personal guard had mentioned it yesterday. If Xena could look in the mirror every morning and yet still call something else in this world beautiful, than it had to be exceptionally so.   
  
As the sun continued its journey west, Alti’s mule sped up and came into step beside Ares’. “War God, I think we have things we need to discuss.”   
  
“I can’t speak for Xena, but I doubt she’d have a problem with you watching like you were last night. If that’s what gets you off, so be it,” Ares jibed, but still, his heartbeat had sped up. This witch could do Xena a lot of harm, already had if what he’d discovered about this universe was true.  
  
“I was just confirming my suspicions. She loves you, you know?” Alti said simply, and Ares, though he tried not to be, was drawn into the conversation. Alti could instantaneously see into the souls of mortals, so hiding his feelings was out of the question. He HATED feeling so powerless to protect the woman he loved. Still, he didn’t have to give Alti the pleasure of hearing him express his feelings out loud.   
  
“I hope so,” was all Ares said in reply.   
  
“Relax. We are on the same side. We both want what we know is best for Xena, what she was always meant to be, and that was not what she became where you come from,” Alti stated, letting her words sink in and watching the now mortal God of War for his reaction to them.   
  
“And it’s all my fault that she became what she did, is that it?” Ares responded sarcastically. How many times had he blamed his early fumbling on the rift created between himself and Xena, and Alti just pulled that self-doubt out of thin air to hurl in his face.   
  
“Not all your fault, War God. There were several OTHERS involved in that Xena’s downfall,” Alti admitted. Ares, God of War, always was the master manipulator in any dimension he inhabited. He might be temporarily mortal but that didn’t dull his mind and she sensed that, in his own universe, he’d been mortal sometime before. The Ares she had known, before Zeus had killed him, had been too open for that. This Ares was guarded like most mortals were. He may not be its champion now, but he knew how to play the game.   
  
“So, who is the little blonde woman?” Alti asked honestly.   
  
“Little blonde woman? I think you must mean, Gabrielle,” Ares answered once he understood what he was being asked.   
  
The name sounded right. Alti had only discovered snippets of the other Xena’s life after several grueling trances she’s taken herself into these past 4 nights. The blonde was the predominant figure, but the War God was there often enough to make Alti realize his significance in that Xena’s life. And the War God did not like the little blonde woman, Gabrielle, nor she him. That fact had been made abundantly clear in her visions. They were bitter enemies in a war for that Xena’s soul and they each had much to loose. The little blonde, who was a great force of goodness and generosity of spirit, had even taken to enjoying cruelty whenever she and that Xena bested Ares as they often did. While Alti could respect that cruelty, that mocking of the powerful deity who was so besotted by Xena in any universe, she was far too wise a Shamaness to get greedy and try to turn such a spirit as this Gabrielle. The rewards would be almost infinite, but so would the energy expended and the risk in dealing with such an independently strong spirit. Turning the girl would take more from anyone than they’d ever receive. A wise human knew when it was time to cut your losses, kill your opponent quickly, and move on. The gods enjoyed the drama too much.   
  
“She is powerful in her own way. She is a threat to the Xena we both… admire so much,” Alti admitted.   
  
Ares chuckled. “Figure that out by yourself, did you? Well, you’re right. She can fight well enough. She is an Amazon Queen after all, although she rarely resides with her tribe. She is so small and so relatively unskilled and yet she has this power over Xena… that Xena anyway,” Ares finished, bitterness creeping into his voice.   
  
“An Amazon Queen. Interesting,” Alti commented, deep in thought.   
  
“Yeah. If I remember my Xena history well enough, you were an Amazon once weren’t you?” Ares asked, knowing the answer. He could teach a course in Xena he knew her life history and those who were close to her so well.   
  
“A long time ago. I was young and naïve,” Alti replied noncommittally.   
  
“Then you and Gabrielle have more in common than just Xena,” Ares said offhand.   
  
“You know this Gabrielle better than I. What tribe was she born to? Who were her parents? Does she have any more children, other than that demon girl you bedded? If I am going to find this little nuisances’ counterpart in this universe and keep her away from Xena, I need to know more about her,” Alti admitted, hating to admit he weaknesses, but needing the information.   
  
“You don’t need to worry about her. Gabrielle is dead in this universe. Xena had her crucified for trying to start a rebellion in Corinth just over two years ago. She even had her legs broken, as an example to anyone else who might be considering a rebellion against Xena: The Conqueror!” Ares informed the witch, perverse glee written all over his face.   
  
Alti sighed with concern. This girl was Xena’s primary attachment in any lifetime, what most people called a soulmate. That she had meant so little in the Conqueror’s destiny was impossible. There had to be some connection that she was not seeing and Alti did not like surprises. She preferred life to be predictable, like the War God’s arrival. She had felt the power of his father put him here and once she had learned whom he was, she had known immediately that he and possibly Xena would come looking for his sword. This girl was dangerous to begin with. Alti had to find out what role she was meant to play to the Conqueror or all their dreams could go up in smoke.   
  
“How did your Xena first loose her way and become a self righteous do-gooder? I recall a tall, muscular, dark blonde man was involved. I sensed he was part god, but I have never seen him before, and he isn’t part of this universe,” Alti said, trying to sound more confident than she felt.   
  
This man had also perplexed her. He had stood out in her visions. He wasn’t as near or important to Xena as this Gabrielle or the War God, but Alti could tell he was not meant to be on this dimensional plane, yet he was meant to be in Xena’s life. Paradoxes always meant the most grave trouble. Every Shamaness knew that.   
  
“Ah, Hercules, my favorite bastard half-brother! You needn’t worry about him either, Alti. His never being born is what makes this world so glorious!” Ares shouted, euphoric at realizing how wonderful this world was.   
  
Alti couldn’t help but chuckle as the whole caravan turned their heads in confusion. When his eyes met Xena’s slightly annoyed ones, he blushed and shook his head. Despite the temporary amusement what she was learning was not good at all. She suddenly got a horrid thought.   
  
“This universe was created artificially wasn’t it? Someone went back in time from your world and tampered with your brother’s birth, didn’t they?” Alti suddenly deduced in horror.   
  
“Yes, 2 psycho goddesses, Callisto and that demon daughter of Gabrielle’s you saw, Hope. Finally those two did something right for a change,” Ares explained.   
  
“Don’t get so cocky, War God! While it may seem advantageous on the surface, it will ultimately be the destruction of this entire universe and a general collapse of most others. Only one dimension could survive and that dimension would only continue by being devoid of magic or any other divine elements. In essence, we’d ALL loose our powers. We’d probably never even exist in such a world. We’d be lucky if we become the stuff of myth and legend!” Alti explained with urgency bordering on desperation, letting the morbidity of her prophecy be absorbed.   
  
“Then, when I get my powers back, we shall have to do something about it. I can’t really do much in this mortal body!” Ares informed, rolling his eyes.   
  
His earlier feeling of helplessness had returned. He remembered asking Xena, when she was trapped in Callisto’s body, a few years back, how mortals got from day to day with so many life threatening dangers popping up every minute. Now he was back to asking that question and no closer to the answers than he was when he was swinging over the fire pit with walls of razor sharp spikes closing around him.   
  
Once he was a god again, he and Xena would figure out something. They always did. That gave Ares the comfort he needed to get away from the Witch and her prophesies of doom. They would still have to deal with it when the immediate crisis was over, but then Xena and Ares, the King and Queen of the Gods, would figure out something with or without Shamaness Alti’s help.   
  
That figured out, Ares unceremoniously kicked his mule into a faster gate and went to catch up with his beloved. He needed to be near her again, to gain support after such ominous warnings. As much as he had promised he wouldn’t let her do so, Alti had rattled him.   
  
As he settled his animal into step beside Xena she barely looked over at him, but a smile still came to her face. “So, have a good chat with Alti?”   
  
“Yes and no, but that is how all chats with Shamans and their like go. If she had given me a direct answer, then I would have had to worry,” Ares replied with a lightheartedness he did not feel. The end of the universe as he knew it was a heady topic for anyone to digest.   
  
Xena chuckled, but could feel the unease radiating from the god she loved. She remembered back to her first meeting with Alti and figured the woman had yet to learn tact and discretion. She really had to talk with the Shamaness about that. She slowed her mule and Ares did the same as to afford them more privacy. They looked into each other’s eyes. “So, I guess she told you about the baby?”   
  
Ares was thrown for a loop. “What baby?”   
  
The Conqueror’s hand strayed to her flat belly and Ares’ eyes bulged, right before he fell from his ass onto his ass. The whole caravan stopped, laughter filling the canyon they traveled. The great God of War couldn’t stay on a donkey!   
  
“You’re pregnant?!!!” was all Ares could squawk, both stunned and hopeful. Perhaps they had already started on the new pantheon of gods. If she confirmed what she had just alluded to, it would be icing on the cake for Ares.   
  
“Yep,” Xena said proudly, again patting her stomach happily, as Ares got up and pulled her in for a major kiss. The universe really was perfect now!   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
While Ares was ecstatically happy, he knew that he now had to be more vigilant than ever. The idea of becoming Xena’s husband had been solely pleasurable, for even though he knew he’d always have to watch his back for a double-cross, that was second nature to him after all his centuries on Olympus. But Xena could take care of herself in a fight. A baby could not. Now he was going to be not only a husband but a father as well. He had to make sure nothing terrible happened to his little family and that history didn’t repeat itself. He still had one card to play, and he meant to play it, as he entered Alti’s tent.   
  
Alti could feel the protective instinct and buried fear twisting in Ares gut and she took a minute to breath deeply and savor the feeling. “You wish to speak with me War God?”   
  
“Actually, it’s more like a warning. Keep away from Xena and our child!” Ares threatened in his most intimidating voice. Warlords kissed their butts goodbye to that tone. The Witch didn’t even flinch.   
  
“Why would I want to harm Xena or your daughter-to-be, Xena’s heir and very much her mother’s daughter?” Alti replied, watching the joy flicker in Ares eyes.   
  
He’d tried to hide it, but he had been hoping for a daughter, one who was as merciless and brutal, yet loving and compassionate, all in the same breath, as her beautiful mother could be.   
  
She was trying to distract him. Focus. For his family he had to focus. “I don’t know why you’d want to harm my child or the woman I plan to make my wife, but I don’t know why you felt a need to curse Solan the way you did. It sure didn’t keep Xena on her true path in my world, now did it?” Ares remarked bitterly.   
  
“Ah, so you know about that? And the Conqueror, does she know?”   
  
“No. What good would it do to tell her? You are a powerful alley. If she found out you cursed her son before his birth, she’d kill you as surely as she killed you in my world, and you are not the type to go down without a fight. You’d find some way to wreak havoc with our family, even from beyond the grave,” Ares remarked matter of factly, sitting down at the small table in Alti’s tent. He felt no bitterness or betrayal in the fact. It was just Alti’s nature to backstab, as it was his nature to dominate and command.   
  
Alti smiled. She had been thinking the same thing.   
  
“However, I will make Xena fully aware of what you did if you even attempt to harm us or our child and when I get my powers back, I will search the globe to find another Shaman or Shamaness to make sure you NEVER place any kind of hex on us, else you will find yourself in the deepest, darkest pit of Tartarus. I will make you immortal and you will remain in that pit forever, never to be reincarnated or escape. Do I make myself clear?!” Ares growled threateningly.   
  
“Perfectly. However, you should be thanking me for getting rid of the boy for you. If it wasn’t for his death, Xena would never have allowed herself to become attached to your counterpart in this universe and thus you,” Alti explained, bemused that this powerless god thought he could threaten her.   
  
At that moment, Ares felt torn in two directions. Half of him wanted to do just what Alti had said, thank her for taking one of the major influences to Xena becoming a hero out of his way. The other wanted to rip the witch apart limb by limb, slowly, painfully, for her having hurt his Love so deeply. While she was probably right and it had been Solan’s death that had set his counterpart and The Conqueror down the road from basic lust to true love, he had also learned from Xena’s ladies in waiting exactly how Solan had died in this universe, trying to protect his wounded guardian, Kaleipus in the final battle which had eradicated the Centaur Nation. Xena had been so radiantly happy that morning before the battle, as she was finally going to be able to reclaim her child after 11 years apart from him and bring an heir to her newly completed Empire. And then, when the old Centaur had fallen, Solan had rushed to his side and one of Xena’s own men had run him through. Ares shuddered to think how Xena had disposed of this soldier. Both this Xena and the Xena from his own universe were masters in the art of torture, but if this man had killed his Beloved’s child, he deserved every moment of pain and suffering he’d experienced and far more.   
  
“That may be, but I’ve said my peace and I swear by the River Styx, I will honor it! YOU will not harm one hair on the heads of MY family or you’ll suffer the same fate, or worse, that you suffered in my dimension, and I believe you already know what that is!” Ares swore with tightly controlled anger. He then turned on his heels to exit the tent.   
  
“I have no intention of hurting your family, War God. I know what you think of me, but I am far more like you than you care to admit. We should work together. We have to if we are to survive!” Alti returned directly. She wanted to smack the former god upside the head for his posturing and assuming he knew what went on inside her complex mind, but she knew that would do more harm than good. He didn’t know the first thing about evil. He knew greed and hate and vengeance and spite, but true evil he couldn’t even begin to comprehend. But his understanding wasn’t necessary. He had his own motives, but his desired end result was similar to her own. However, she now remembered why she had joined the Amazons so long ago; no male egos to contend with.   
  
Ares continued stalking out of the tent and didn’t look back.   
  
When he entered his own tent, he was forced to the ground and had his hands chained behind his back. A smile spread across his face. Xena wanted to play! Then another thought hit him, something he’d rarely encountered, a doubt. “Xena, the baby?”   
  
“Will be fine. I’ve been pregnant before, you know? I know how far I can go,” she reassured him, biting his right earlobe, and running her hands down his muscular arms and giving the binding chains a tug.   
  
Right then, he said the only thing he could say “Yes Mistress.”   
  
Xena flipped him onto his back and straddled his hips. She looked deep into his eyes he thought he would die from lack of oxygen. She was perfection, and he couldn’t breathe from awe of her. That was until she slipped her hand down his pants and gave him a gentle squeeze. Then he was breathing hard and fast, his eyes rolling back into his head. He could feel her building the excitement in him, stroking his hardening member, while slowly removing his clothes, and he believed he must be in paradise.   
  
Just when he thought he would come just from her touch alone, she stopped, standing before him and smiling wickedly. She removed her armor and leathers and unpinned her hair. She caressed her breasts, and ran her hands down her soft, remarkably scar-free body. Ares sighed, watching her. She then climbed on top of him, his face between her legs. He could smell her musky scent and breathed her in deeply. He knew what she wanted. She wanted him to tongue her to orgasm, to lick and suck her off, and she liked the idea that he could in no way satisfy himself till she dained to administer to his needs. She was greedy and power hungry, probably seeking to reassert herself in their relationship after last night’s mutual lovemaking, but he didn’t care. He loved ‘The Conqueror’ in her. And he loved to eat her out and watch her shriek with pleasure.   
  
Licking the outer folds of her, he set to work teasing her. He knew it would drive her crazy, but he wanted her to know that he wasn’t just going to be her willing puppy dog. If she thought that, she’d eventually grow tired of him and he didn’t want to wind up like his mother, watching the person he was totally in love with screw every available member of the opposite sex century after century, while being unable to do anything about it. Just the thought of Hera and sharing her fate took some of the ardor out of him, which was a good thing. He might not have lasted much longer with his Xena moaning like she was at his tongue’s attentions. The sound alone was turning him on.   
  
He slowly began to circle Xena’s clit and she hissed in erotic agony, grinding her hips against his face to encourage his movements toward the swollen little button of her pleasure. He then moved his mouth down to her sweet hole and started lapping up her juices, frustrating her. She had been extremely close and they both knew it. Now he was retreating to her annoyance. He tongued her opening, and started fucking her orally and she started riding his mouth and keening with pleasure again, making Ares smile against her pussy. He loved to make her go nonverbal. Finally he planted on final kiss on her opening, and took her sweet clit into his mouth, sucking deeply on it and occasionally flicking his tongue against it. She came like a stampede of wild horses and Ares continued licking at her clit, wanting her pleasure to last as long as possible.   
  
Xena collapsed against Ares, moving her body back down his own until her brow was against his hard, muscled chest, and holding him tightly. His hands were still bound behind him, but he didn’t mind the extra pressure on them. Xena was clinging to him, having cried out his name when she came. Life was good. But it was about to get better.   
  
Xena began kissing his chest, biting his nipple, and making him shout in pleasure. Her cool hands rubbed his hips and her lips trailed down his stomach to his groin. She kissed her way up the inside of his left thigh, and Ares could feel his member straining for the feel of her mouth. Xena laughed throatily at his expression, but Ares was too concentrated on intense sensations as her tongue began systematically licking his balls. The woman could tease him out of his mind! It was one of the things he loved about her.   
  
“Xena, Please!” Ares ground out as Xena sucked one of his testicles partially into her mouth and sucked hard till Ares eyes rolled up into his head with pleasure and a little pain mixed in.   
  
“Please what?” Xena asked deviously. She wanted him to beg and he knew she’d never give him what he wanted till he did. He knew from experience that she could keep a man on the edge for days, teasing and pulling him back hour after hour till he said the words she wanted to here.   
  
“Suck me! Suck me off!” Ares grunted, his cock feeling so engorged that he feared he would explode.   
  
“Whatever you say,” was all he heard as her warm, wet mouth descended on him, gliding down his shaft, inch by inch, until he was all the way down her throat. He’d never had a woman take all of him till he’d met Xena. She definitely had more skills in the bedroll than she even had outside of it, and Ares sat straight up with the force of his ardor.   
  
He watched, fascinated as she pumped her mouth up and down while still maintaining a nice suction. Gods she was good!   
  
Her sucking became more forceful and Ares knew he wouldn’t last much longer. He could feel his load pooling in his tightening balls and when he felt her teeth begin to gently graze along the head of his cock, his hips bucked twice and he came with a loud growl, shooting his cum deep into her mouth. When he finally came down off the ceiling and looked in her eyes again, she swallowed, licked her lips, and winked at him playfully, before scurrying away to a table in the corner of the tent and retrieving the key to the lock on the chains.   
  
The Conqueror unbound Ares and he pulled her into his arms, hugging the woman who held his heart. Both satisfied and blissfully happy, they had nearly fallen asleep right there on the command tent’s rug, when Ares instinctively murmured, “I love you, Xena.”   
  
And they both shot up instantaneously in shock.   
  
Ares could not believe he had said it! How could have been so stupid? Now it was too late to take it back! Xena didn’t love him; neither the Xena of his own universe or the Xena of this one! He had just tipped his hand in a moment of bliss! He never did that! He was terrified of the mocking remark that was sure to follow.   
  
But it never came. Instead, the silence between them stretched on, until Xena reached out and cupped his face in her hands and kissed him gently, yet passionately, on the lips.   
  
“I never truly believed I could love anyone, except maybe my family when I was young, but… I love you too, Ares,” she said nervously.   
  
And then they fell into each other’s arms without another word. They kissed over and over, each feeling so in love with the other that they thought they might cry with joy. Ares finally broke the kiss, looking Xena in the eyes, needing to tell her more of what was in his heart.   
  
“I’ve never told anyone I loved them before, but I love you! You are everything I’ve ever wished for or wanted in a woman! You are my life! I want to spend eternity loving you and raising children with you, and even should our children overthrow us like Zeus did the Titans or Chronos did Uranos, dieing beside you! I love you more than you can possibly imagine, and I want you to be my wife! Will you marry me?” Ares asked, tears forming in his eyes.   
  
“Yes, I’ll marry you! I’ll be your wife!” The Conqueror insisted, nodding with tears springing to her own eyes. She had thought she would never have the luxury of love, but now she was overflowing with it. She wanted nothing more than to bind herself to this man, to spend eternity with him, to be everything he had promised they’d be and more.   
  
Again, Ares pulled her into his arms, and they made love again, only this time there were no games or power struggles. There was only complete love and complete trust and Ares and Xena knew it would remain that way forever.   
  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
  
The next morning, Ares awoke before his fiancé and smirked. His fiancé; he liked the sound of that. He liked the sound of ‘his wife’ better, but that would come soon enough. Depending on how far they had to travel, possibly even today. Well, he guess he should start doing all those sappy things men in love were supposed to do. He thought about it and finally remembered hearing Aphrodite mention at the last family breakfast how Hephestus often brought her breakfast in bed. Well, it was worth a shot. He knew Xena well enough not to bother with flowers or candy. She hated flowers and even if he could get a hold of some candy out here in the middle of nowhere, he also knew her well enough to know she didn’t eat sweets while campaigning. So it would have to be breakfast in bed.   
  
He left the tent and made his way to the cooking fire. The men were swarming about at this early hour, preparing to leave when ordered. The younger men mostly bowed respectfully, but one or two he had seen before in Xena’s camp back when Xena had been a warlord gave him knowing looks. He realized that he and Xena had been a little loud last night, and he shook his head, waving to them as he passed.   
  
When he got to the cooking fire, he smiled at the middle aged woman they had brought with them to prepare their meals and she blushed furiously, whether from her own attraction to him or because she too had heard them last night, he did not know. Either way, it was best to get down to business. “Two plates and don’t be skimpy, one of them is for The Conqueror.”   
  
“Ah, keepin’ the Mistress up all night, were ye? No need to worry. Her babe will be healthy and strong, and that evil witch won’t be getting her hands on your little lass. I’ll be making sure of that. No need to worry at all,” the woman promised in a strong brogue he recognized as the accent of the people of Eire.   
  
“Are you a Shamaness? What are you doing as a lowly cook?” Ares asked astounded. If this woman had enough power to thwart Alti, she could easily be free herself.   
  
“I go where I’m needed, God of War, Sir, even between the roads, as you put it. Where ever those like that witch seek too much power. I almost had to pay a visit to you a couple of times, like the recent one that your father sent you here for in the first place. That was quite naughty of you! You should not have tried to steal the Chakram of Light. It was not meant for one such as you,” the middle-aged woman warned Ares, her eyes glowing, one pure white and one blacker than obsidian. Ares felt the immense power of this woman, even more powerful than Zeus, and he stepped back in fear.   
  
“Whoa! I’ve learned my lesson! No more naughty plans to eliminate the other gods. Gotcha,” Ares assured the woman, raising his hands in surrender, and giving her his most disarming smile he could muster.   
  
The woman laughed deeply at this, her eyes alight with tears. “Oh, you do an old woman’s heart good, God of War. No, I do not wish you to stop trying, Dear. You might as well ask the sun not to shine or the eagle not to fly. Your quest for power is part of who you are. I would not deny anyone that, not even the evil witch herself. But by the same right, I would not let her destroy all that is. I am just assuring you that whatever happens today, your baby girl will be fine, and such a pretty little one too. She will drive them boys wild! But be careful, I fear she’ll have her mother’s dangerous taste in men when she grows up,” the old cook informed, clapping her hands together with certainty.   
  
Ares looked at the woman and rubbed his beard trying to discover just what she was. He wracked his brain for all the beings he’d ever learned about that would have such abilities as this one possessed. He particularly concentrated on the land of Eire, but nothing came to him, except possibly those mysterious Druid Spirits, but no one on Olympus really knew anything much about them, and while they were ancient, they seemed to prefer to keep to themselves, unlike most gods did.   
  
“Don’t even try to figure it out, God of War. Just remember my words. And as for your earlier request, here. Piping hot,” the woman said, handing him two steaming, full dishes and utensils.   
  
“Thanks,” Ares responded, uneasily. He definitely had to do some research when he made it back to Olympus, his Olympus that was, his and Xena’s. A smile spread across his face as he thought of their plans.   
  
“Like I said, you might as well ask the sun not to shine. Now go back to your Lady Love before the food gets cold,” the woman teased, shaking her head.   
  
Ares gave the woman one more quick inspection trying to place her, but after failing, he nodded and did as he was told.   
  
As he neared the tent, he heard a familiar war cry and dropped the dishes, running as fast as he could.   
  
“Guards!” Xena’s voice rang out from inside the tent and her men joined Ares in his run.   
  
Just as he approached the tent, he saw an all too familiar mop of blonde hair exit from the back entrance and take to the trees. He considered giving chase but saw two archers start shooting at the fleeing figure. If it was who he thought it was, he should have nothing to fear. Gabrielle couldn’t hurt Xena in any universe, could she? Then he remembered what Xena: The Conqueror had done to this world’s Gabrielle and his heart beat erratically as he finally entered the tent.   
  
And then it stopped. Everything stopped. Ares would never figure out why this came to mind, but he suddenly remembered something Callisto had once said “And everybody died that day.”   
  
And Ares felt as if he himself was dieing, as he held the bleeding Xena in his arms. She had been stabbed in the upper part of her stomach, and he could tell the wound would be fatal if no one intervened. He suddenly thought of the cooking woman.   
  
“I’m going to get help. Don’t you die on me, Xena! Don’t you die on me! Just hang in there for a few more minutes! I’m getting help!” Ares frantically ordered as he gently placed her into the hands of one of her generals and went outside. The cooking woman was no where to be found, but he did see Alti approaching with a wounded Gabrielle in tow, an arrow sticking out of her shoulder precariously close to her jugular vein.   
  
“So, the little blonde bitch is dead, is she? She looks quite well for someone who was crucified two years ago!” Alti accused, throwing Gabrielle at Ares, who caught her in a murderous grip.   
  
“If she dies, you die!” Ares swore, looking straight into Gabrielle’s eyes. They were so hard and cold that Ares became even more infuriated. He had not wanted to believe it, but it was obvious the way she smirked that she had been the attacker.   
  
“I came here knowing I would probably die, but at least I’m taking that monster with me! I and my Amazon sisters will be avenged!” Gabrielle spat, actually spitting in Xena’s direction.   
  
Alti looked Xena over and then used pressure points on Xena’s side and chest. “There. That will slow the bleeding and ease the pain, but I can’t save her. She has maybe a half hour now, unless you can do something God of War.”   
  
“The cook woman, the one with the accent from Eire, where is she?” Ares asked excitedly, then exited the tent, looking towards the fire. The woman was still nowhere to be seen.   
  
“What are you talking about? What does it matter where the cooking servant is? Xena was stabbed, not poisoned!” Alti asked, frustrated.   
  
“Because she’s not just a cook woman. She’s some kind of powerful, dimension-crossing, Shamaness or force of destiny or something. She knew about the baby and the reasons behind my exile in this universe. Now where is she?” Ares asked, insistently.   
  
“That could be what woke me up. I felt a powerful force outside, but then it disappeared. If it was her, she’s gone, and we don’t have time to wait on her. What about your family? Could they help?” Alti asked, trying to think about alternative ways to save Xena. Her mind was blank. This was the way of bloodshed, and she was a Shamaness. She could feed off the pain inflicted but she could not stop it or cure it’s cause.   
  
Ares considered this, then quickly straitened himself up. He’d have to humble himself, but Xena was worth it. “Zeus! Zeus!”   
  
A moment later the King of the Gods appeared, and looked around him, then looked at his wayward son. He could smell the desperation in him.   
  
“Zeus, Father, please help me! I’ll give you anything you ask, just please save Xena! An assassin stabbed her and as a mortal I can’t help her. Please heal her! Please!” Ares begged, falling to his knees and grabbing the hem of his father’s long robes.   
  
Zeus looked at his son and his own heart was breaking. As much as he and his son had grown apart, Zeus could not completely banish all feeling towards any of his children, even this one. But a good parent sometimes had to let their child know pain, to suffer, in order to learn a vital lesson. This was one of those times. This was the lesson of love, weakness and dependency, and War could not afford either. Ares would bounce back in time, stronger and darker than ever. It was his destiny, but for now, they would both suffer, Ares for his loss of this woman, and Zeus for his child being ravaged by the agonies of heartbreak. “I’m sorry Ares, but I can’t heal her. She is mortal. She must die. I can’t spare you this pain without causing you irreparable harm, without shielding you from the truth, and I will not do that.”   
  
Suddenly three other flashes of light appeared, and Aphrodite, Cupid, and Athena stood at the entrance of the tent.   
  
“Cut the life lessons crap, Daddy! The woman Ar majorly loves is DYING! You’ve got to like save her!” Aphrodite defended, stomping her pink slipper and scrunching her face up.   
  
“I agree, Father. It would do Ares good to have this Xena by his side. He might learn something from her,” Athena stated, eyeing her brother with sympathy. While this Xena was not the Xena of her universe, whom Athena admired for her path to redemption, she was a good leader and soldier. She may have been Ares pupil but even here she had never lost her compassion. She had commissioned public hospitals and mandatory public schooling for all children. She had set up training programs for widows and those out of work. She had and was in the process of building better roads all over her empire, and fixing and founding municipal services. While brutal and absolute in her governing, she was the wisest mortal leader either dimensional plane had ever seen, and if she continued in this capacity, Athena truly believed that she would lead her world to peace and enormous prosperity.   
  
Ares looked at his siblings and his nephew with gratitude.   
  
“No, I can’t allow this woman to be healed and that is final. Anyone who does so I will personally throw into the abyss of Tartarus where you can keep your mother company. When this harlot is dead, I will return your powers Ares, but not before! You might try to save her at the expense of your immortality and I cannot allow that either. Our world needs a God of War,” Zeus stated with finality. Then, just as quickly as he’d appeared, he disappeared.   
  
“NO! Come back! Please, FATHER!!!” Ares screamed in primal agony. He couldn’t believe what was happening. It all seemed so surreal. He had finally found, after 11,000 years of existence, the love of his life and his father would just let her die? He hated the bastard more now than he ever had before and he renewed a vow he had made 7,000 years ago to live to see him dead, preferably as Zeus had seen Chronos dead!   
  
“By the gods, what am I going to do?” Ares asked, as Athena, Aphrodite, and Cupid came to kneel down beside the God of War.   
  
“You’ll survive, Ares. I know you will,” Athena stated, patting his back supportively. She was a warrior like him, and while she could see Aphrodite and Cupid itching to hug and cuddle Ares, she knew he wouldn’t appreciate it.   
  
“Yeah Bro, you’ll be okay. It’s gonna hurt lots, but you always have me and Cupie and Hephy. Remember that okay? Don’t try to handle this alone,” Aphrodite offered, tears forming in her own beautiful eyes.   
  
“I’m sorry I’ll not become your wife or have our baby,” Xena said, her voice little more than a whisper.   
  
When Lyseus had died, Xena had come to realize the closeness of death and unlike most warriors, she accepted her. She’d even spared Celesta when she massacred the gods. She wasn’t afraid of death, and death was often her closest companion. She just wished she could have given life to her child with Ares. She hated that her baby would die with her, but there was nothing that could be done.   
  
“There maybe a way to remedy both situations,” Alti broke into the calm that had begun to form over the sad gathering.   
  
“He doesn’t need your council, Witch!” Athena responded curtly.   
  
Ares hated when Athena tried to run his life. He knew she meant well, but he wanted to know what Alti meant. They both had investments here. Her advice might be worth something, and it couldn’t hurt to listen. “I’ll be the judge of that. Go on.”   
  
“Well, it takes an unborn child at the stage Xena’s is in fifteen to twenty minutes to die inside of a dead mother. If you call your father immediately after she dies, get your powers back, then get rid of him quickly enough, you can save the child using your powers. You can make a place inside yourself to store the child till you can find a woman willing to carry her to term,” Alti offered, seeing the light spring to Xena’s eyes at the hope this provided her.   
  
“Yes, Ares. Do it. Save our baby, please!” Xena begged, her eyes imploring the man she loved to save her child. She prayed for the first time in 20 years that his love for her would make him do as she asked.   
  
“Ofcourse my love. Anything. I’ll take her and raise her to be strong like her mother. I promise you!” Ares swore, nodding as tears began to fall.   
  
“And as for the marriage, you can marry her now, before she dies. If the blonde assassin, Gabrielle, performs the ceremony and gives her blessing to your union, then your soul and Xena’s will be knitted together for eternity, in all universes. She will be as conjoined to you in every future life as she is to her primary soulmate,” Alti informed, smiling sinisterly. It would be good to have an ally in every future lifetime in keep Xena dark and ruthless. Ares would provide that and protect Xena from Gabrielle’s influence. Then Alti would always have a stronger sway over Xena. Yes, this would work in her favor.   
  
“Ares, don’t do it! That Witch has something up her sleeve. Just look at her!” Athena pleaded. She knew enough about metaphysics to understand Alti’s logic. Her brother however wouldn’t care about Alti’s motives in future incarnations. He’d believe himself strong enough to handle her and protect Xena. Gods, Athena despised her brother’s ego. She knew he’d go along with the plan, but she had to at least try to make him see reason, even if it fell on deaf ears.   
  
Ares smiled sadly at the woman he had wanted to share eternity with as husband and wife and who’d maybe see 5 minutes in that bond. “Xena, Love, will you marry me now?”   
  
“Yes,” Xena said, smiling as brightly as she could.   
  
“Aphrodite, we’ll need a wedding bracelet and rings. I want to have rings like Zeus and Hera had,” Ares insisted, smiling comfortingly at his dieing Queen of the Gods.   
  
“Anything for you Bro. Oh, this is so beautiful!” Aphrodite said, using her power to materialize the items requested. As the Goddess of Love and the wife of Hephestus, she had an all access pass to wedding items. This set was specially made by her husband himself for a couple she favored who were supposed to get married tomorrow. She’d have to have Hephy make another set in time. He’d probably have to stay up half the night, but once he heard the reason behind the rush job, she knew he wouldn’t complain or be mad at her at all.   
  
“Bring the girl back in!” Alti barked the order, as two guards led the still wounded Gabrielle back into the tent.   
  
Cupid shook his head sadly while Aphrodite gasped in horror when they saw the Conqueror’s killer. Neither could believe Gabby could kill Xena in cold blood, not any Gabby!   
  
Ares stood before the young blonde Amazon and gave her his most intimidating sneer. “You will be performing a wedding, Amazon! If you do not, you will be executed. If you do well, and give the Conqueror and myself your blessing, the Conqueror will spare your life as her last official act. Do you understand?”   
  
Gabrielle looked at him shocked, but then shook her head. “Whatever you say. It’s your business if you want to marry that Murderer!”   
  
“Look who’s talking, a cowardly assassin! Now do your job!” Ares demanded, pushing Gabrielle into view of Xena, while Aphrodite raised the Conqueror to look at her.   
  
Xena laughed bitterly. “I thought I had crucified you little girl.”   
  
“You did, but I had Amazon friends who took me down that night and saved me. You were once crucified in the same way, by Caesar, were you not?” Gabrielle asked noncommittally.   
  
Ares couldn’t believe it. Xena crucifies the Bitch. The Bitch stabs Xena to death, and in the last few moments of life, they’re getting along again. The Fates must really hate him. “Gabrielle, start the ceremony!”   
  
“How did you know my name?” Gabrielle asked.   
  
“That’s not important. Do you want to live or do I execute you right here?” Ares questioned threateningly.   
  
“We have all been called here today to witness this union between Ares: God of War and Xena: The Conqueror. Marriage is a commitment of ones soul and should not be entered into lightly. If there is anyone present who can give reason why these two shall not be joined together, speak now or be forever silent,” Gabrielle paused.   
  
After looking around for a moment, she continued. “Ares: God of War, in the name of your father, Zeus, do you take this woman for your wife?”   
  
“Yes, I do,” Ares stated with more certainty than he’d ever said anything else in his life.   
  
“And Xena, in the name of the Goddess Hera, Mother to us all, do you take this god to be your husband?” Gabrielle asked, for the first time in over two years looking Xena in the eye. The person there was different than she had been and Gabrielle cursed her soft heart. The Conqueror had murdered thousands of her Amazon sisters, and yet part of her regretted having stabbed her. She felt connected to this woman, the Conqueror, somehow, and always had. When she had ruthlessly condemned her to crucifixion, Gabrielle had felt deeply, if unfairly, betrayed somehow. She knew it was crazy, but it was how she felt. She had done what had to be done, and she refused to continue this line of thinking and give herself regrets. She had another chance, once this wedding was completed and she would not blow it.   
  
“I do. I love you, Ares,” Xena affirmed, smiling up at the man she loved.   
  
“Ares, place the wedding bracelet on Xena’s wrist,” Gabrielle instructed. Ares did so, holding his loves hand tightly. He also places his ring upon her finger and she, with Aphrodite’s help placed hers on his. Ares rubbed the living metal of Hephestus and whispered a prayer of thanks to his deformed brother, then looked at Gabrielle to continue.   
  
“Then, by the powers granted to me as Queen of the Amazon Nation and with my eternal blessing, I pronounce you husband and wife. You must now seal your union with a kiss,” Gabrielle concluded, smiling despite herself. As the God of War leaned in and kissed the Conqueror, Gabrielle suddenly felt an odd sensation in her heart. It felt like a part of her was being torn away, like she had somehow betrayed herself, although she could not for the life of her, figure out how. Shaking her head, she stood, but continued to watch the couple intently.   
  
When their lips parted, Ares smiled at his wife, feeling completed and comforted. Even when she died, he’d not loose her permanently. He’d have her again in another lifetime, and next time, he’d watch her like a hawk and not let her out of his sight. This would not happen again.   
  
Xena smiled up at her husband and she could not keep the tears out of her eyes. She had just found him again and now they would loose each other all over. But she could not focus on that. She already felt the cold seeping up her body and she had things to say to him about their baby. Things she wanted her child to know. “Ares, about our child…”   
  
“Our daughter, my Sweet. I have it on good authority that we will have a little girl,” Ares corrected, his arms gently around his wife. She was already beginning to fade. He could feel it, but he knew that another warm body could keep her there a moment or two longer and he wanted to spend as long as he could with her to hold onto each precious second, to share a lifetime of endearments in just a few minutes.   
  
“Make our daughter strong and powerful. Teach her to fight. I made the mistake of trying to shield Solan from the violence of my life and it got him killed. I don’t want her to share her brother’s fate. Make sure she can defend herself, but don’t force her to become a warrior, Ares. Give her a choice. Please, I know you are the God of War, but let her learn other things as well. Let her learn history and medicine and art and other things along with combat and strategy. Make her truly wise, Ares!” Xena pleaded, feeling each moment she lived moving her closer to death. She could begin to see the flicker of the flame on Celesta’s candle and the outline of a woman’s figure holding it.   
  
Athena knew she should not be so astounded. The Xena she had seen in her own universe was very wise and Athena respected this one for her wisdom in leading her empire. But this was truly remarkable! Very few mortals, even ones who had spent their entire lives in her service, would ask this, and Athena knew what she had to do. “Xena, I will help Ares raise your little girl, if you wish it. She will know all the things you asked and more. I so swear by the River Styx.”   
  
“Thank you. I would like that, Athena” Xena stated, smiling at her sister in law.   
  
“And don’t you worry, Conqueror Babe, I’ll make sure the little one knows how to love and to love others in return. I’ll keep an eye on her and me and Cupie will help find her a good man when she gets older. I too swear on the River Styx,” Aphrodite stated seriously, patting Xena’s hand, while tears streamed down her lovely face.   
  
Xena just smiled at Aphrodite, closing her eyes for a moment. When she reopened them, Celesta was there, completely visible and kneeling down beside her.   
  
“Ares, I have to go now. Love my child and tell her about me. Tell her I loved her with all my heart and that I will always be with her in spirit,” Xena told her husband, gripping his hand tightly, one last time.   
  
Ares, as a mortal, could not see Celesta, but after working with her for so long, he knew she was near.   
  
“Ofcourse, my Love, ofcourse! I love you, Xena! I love you!” Ares swore, his own face awash in tears.   
  
“I love you too, Ares!” Xena whispered with the last of her life force, then slowly exhaled one last time. Ares kissed her in that moment as her eyes drooped shut and her spirit passed onto the next life.   
  
“She’s gone,” Alti stated, receiving a scathing look from Athena.   
  
Ares continued crying for a moment, holding his love close, knowing that now he could not hurt her by hugging her so hard.   
  
Suddenly he felt a firm grip on his shoulder. Looking up he saw the sympathetic blue eyes of the Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare, and Weaving. “I don’t mean to be pushy here, but if you’re going to do this, I suggest you call Dad now. He’ll doubtlessly pontificate some and you have maybe 15 minutes to get that baby out of her.”   
  
“You’re right. Zeus!!!” Ares shouted at the top of his lungs. He had a show to put on.   
  
“Is she dead?” he asked as he appeared, looking down at the body his son held. Indeed, the woman was dead, and it took every ounce of strength not to kneel down beside his son. But he had to be King of the Gods first and a father second. That would always be his curse.   
  
“She’s dead; thanks to you!” Ares gave the expected reply, with genuine bitterness in his tone. If he had accepted his powers back too easily and too quickly, Zeus would think he was up to something and drag it out.   
  
“I’m truly sorry, my son, but it you needed to learn about love and its disappointments. You couldn’t have continued to do your job appropriately if you had been saddled with a wife you were besotted with. She would have ruled you, not the other way around,” Zeus explained.   
  
“I don’t want your sympathy or your pathetic explanations! Nothing you can say can ease my pain! Just give me my sword back, so I may loose this mortal heart!” Ares cried out in fury.   
  
“Becoming a god again won’t stomp out this pain. I know from experience with your mother. But that was the deal. You’d get your sword and your godhood back upon this woman’s death, and so you shall,” Zeus stated, making Ares sword appear in his hands. He gave it to his son, and watched as Ares claimed its power once more.   
  
Once the blue light had faded, Ares gently kissed his wife’s cold lips one more time, then laid her body down on the bedding, standing up.   
  
“I will return to Olympus within the hour. I have things to take care of here first, people to talk to and the like,” Ares said, not looking Zeus in the eye. He feared he might attack his father if he looked and he actually saw the expected calm there, while his own life was turned upside down.   
  
“Very well. I will see you then,” Zeus stated with finality. He so wanted to say more, but he knew anything else would sound pedantic and half hearted to Ares mourning ears. His son had a long road ahead of him, but Zeus had faith in the boy. He’d survive, and he’d learn. Eventually, he’d come to accept his destiny. Nodding to his other children, the King of the Gods vanished.   
  
A moment later, once they knew he was gone, Ares fell to his knees, heaving several long sighs of relief. He opened his leather vest, exposing his chest and abdomen, and placed his hands on the body of his Beloved. Slowly his hands began to glow, and he reached into her cold womb, feeling around carefully for that little grain of life that should still beat. After a few minutes of searching, he found it and gently pulled it out, immediately pressing it inside his own body. He held his breath for a moment, then released it as he felt the life clinging to his own, securely. She was alive. His beautiful daughter would live, just like the being who posed as the army’s cook had foretold. Again tears sprung to his eyes and this time, Aphrodite hugged her brother tightly, as Athena stood and patted her brother on the shoulder once more.   
  
“I will go now. We don’t want Father to get suspicious,” She stated resolutely, although her mind was already working a mile a minute on her new responsibilities as an Aunt. There were preparations to be made, even with 8 more months before the little girls birth. Athena disappeared in golden sparkles.   
  
“Don’t you worry, Ar. Dite’s gonna be with you every breath you take. Every move you make. I ain’t going anywhere! Oh, my poor Bro!!!” Aphrodite whined, squeezing her brother even harder till it almost hurt! If he’d been mortal, his bones would be dust.   
  
“I’m fine, Dite. Really. You can be there for me tomorrow. I’d just like to be alone for the rest of the day. I will stop by your place tomorrow. I promise,” Ares said, hoping to get rid of his sister. He had things to do that he couldn’t let her see.   
  
“Come on, Mom,” Cupid said firmly, lifting his Mother to her feet. He loved her dearly, but he was a guy and knew his Uncle Ares needed the space right now. The fact that he’d be by tomorrow was as much as he could give, and Cupid saw this. Aphrodite didn’t.   
  
“I’ll see you tomorrow, my favorite Studmuffin of War!” Aphrodite said, blowing a kiss as she and her son winked home in pink and white light.   
  
Finally he was alone with Alti and he turned to her with a dangerous gleam in his eye. “I know I told you before, but I am going to say it again! You are to keep out of my child’s life! If I have to, I will sic the Xena of my universe on you if you even think of contacting my daughter or working some of your hocus pocus on her! Do you understand, Witch?!”   
  
“I understand completely. Believe me. I have no interest in your brat now that Xena is dead,” Alti said, looking Ares in the eye. It was a lie ofcourse. They both knew it. This child was part of Xena and a god. It would be powerful. Power always interested Alti.   
  
Ares eyes fell on the Conqueror’s shell, and though he knew she was dead and gone, he also knew some rituals in black magic used a deceased body. He couldn’t let Alti use the corpse of the woman he had loved in any of her spells. Extending his hand towards the body, he sent out a ball of energy that turned the body into ash, then collected that ash in an urn he made appear in his other hand. He’d take them with him for safekeeping and to show his daughter someday.   
  
Folding his arms across his chest, Ares gave Alti one final cautioning look then disappeared in a flash of blue light.   
  
Ares had to retrieve the two chakram of this universe, to keep them from the witch. He realized that the Xena of his own universe had been right in neutralizing the weapons. He would do so also. He would give the unified chakram to his daughter someday, when he felt she was ready, as a legacy from her mother. He’d also collect some other mementos for her, including her mother’s sword. That he would hang on the wall in one of his temple armories.   
  
Xena: The Conqueror deserved a place of honor there. She had Conquered this universe’s entire known world, and more importantly, the heart of the God of War.


End file.
